Date: 1 December 2011 Ref: ICSC 60-1-1 SOI Cost of Living Survey Report City/Country: Honiara, Solomon Islands Type of Survey: Place-to-place Date of Survey: April 2011 I. INTRODUCTION 1. A place-to-place cost-of-living survey was carried out by the Cost-of-living Division of the International Civil Service Commission's secretariat in Solomon Islands in April 2011 for post adjustment purposes. The survey covered data collection and index calculations for a basket of goods and services including housing and domestic service costs. 2. As part of the exercise, a price collection was carried out in Honiara in April 2011. The international officials in grades P-1 through D-1, stationed in Solomon Islands at that time, were requested to provide information on their household expenditures, as well as on housing and domestic service. 3. Price data collection for an all-inclusive basket of goods and services was carried out in June 2005 in New York, the base city for cost-of-living index comparisons. Expenditure data collection covering monthly and less frequent expenditures on food, beverages, clothing and footwear, housing, domestic service, transportation, communication, furniture and household equipment, health, recreation, education, miscellaneous goods and services and out-of-area commitments was undertaken in 2005 in the eight headquarters duty stations and Washington, D.C. The expenditure data excluding housing, pension contribution, medical insurance and out-of-area expenditures, for those eight duty stations, with minor adaptations, constituted the common weights that are used for post adjustment index calculations for all duty stations including Solomon Islands. II. DATA COLLECTION AND TREATMENT OF PRICES 4. The price collection was carried out by an independent pricing agent selected after consultation with the co-ordinator of the survey in Honiara. The price collection covered outlets located in Honiara. As a general rule, only prices of goods and services available in the outlets at the time of the visit by the pricing agent were collected. 5. The coordinator provided supplementary data on public transportation fares, utility, postal and telephone service rates and tuition fees. Average prices 6. Average prices were calculated for each item as simple arithmetic averages. Page 1 of 7
Surveys 7. The data collection process for housing and domestic service costs and household expenditures in April 2011 involved the use of two questionnaires, whic h were distributed to staff members, stationed in Solomon Islands. The survey response by type of questionnaire is presented in table 1 below. Table 1. Survey response Type of questionnaire Housing & domestic service costs Household expenditures Number of Staff Number of respondents Response Rate % Number of responses used Responses used (%) 13 12 92 10 83 13 13 100 9 69 8. The number of responses presented above refers to returned questionnaires properly filled and used in the calculation. A number of questionnaires could not be used because they referred to noneligible staff or were returned blank, incomplete or with inconsistent data. 9. Non-eligible respondents were staff members with less than 3 months at the duty station or living outside of Honiara completing the housing and domestic service costs questionnaire, and those with less than 6 months for the household expenditure questionnaire; those living in hotels or boarding houses, sharing expenses of a common dwelling or with income less than 50 per cent of their family income. Weights - Common expenditures and other costs III. DERIVATION OF EXPENDITURE WEIGHTS 10. The common expenditure shares, mentioned in paragraph 3, were combined with the housing costs in Honiara, pension contribution, medical insurance premiums and out-of-area expenditures to establish the weighting pattern for Honiara. The common weights were adapted to the specific situation of Solomon Islands using the expenditures reported by staff members there in grades P-1 through D-1 who responded to the survey. The major adaptation involved the proportions of the in-area and out-of-area expenditures. The final weights were redistributed based on remuneration of a staff member in Solomon Islands at the dependency rate of a P4 step VI. Housing and domestic service costs 11. Information regarding housing and domestic service was derived from the questionnaire. 12. The following types of expenditures were included in the determination of monthly housing costs: Page 2 of 7
(a) Rental costs: - Rents net of subsidies for renters. - Shared maintenance costs in cases of co-operatives, condominiums, etc. - Utility costs, such as electricity, gas, water and heating. - Amortized cost of a refrigerator, stove and other facilities. - Amortized cost of repairs and repainting. - Amortized cost of non-refundable key-money. - Garbage collection. (b) Domestic service: The average monthly cost of a full time maid in Honiara was also added to housing costs for comparison with appropriate data for New York. Pension 13. The actual amount of pension contribution of a staff member at the P4 step 6 level was included in the overall expenditure pattern. Medical insurance 14. This referred to the actual premiums paid by the staff in Solomon Islands for medical and dental insurance coverage. Out-of-area expenditures 15. Dollar-driven: The following expenditures were considered as fixed-dollar amounts: remittances to maintain family members abroad; other out-of-area commitments; purchases of durable goods, such as, furniture, household appliances, glassware, tableware and utensils, sports, photographic, video and audio equipment; vacations and home leave. 16. Other: This category included other expenditures incurred outside of Solomon Islands by the staff on items or groups of items such as clothing and footwear, education etc. In addition, when the out-of-area expenditure on any particular item or group amounted to 60 per cent or more of the total expenditure on that item or group, the total expenditure was treated as entirely an out-of-area expenditure. Adapted common weights 17. As a result of the above, the common expenditure weights adapted for Honiara together with those for housing, medical insurance, pension contribution are shown in table 2 below: Page 3 of 7
Table 2. Honiara expenditure weights (In U.S. Dollars) Expenditure category Weight Total in-area 3,793.01 Total in-area excluding housing 1,716.61 Food and non-alcoholic beverages 499.83 Alcoholic beverages and tobacco 77.52 Clothing and footwear 85.48 Housing, water, electricity, gas and fuels 2,076.40 Furniture, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house 55.99 Health 73.94 Transport 182.48 Communication 105.76 Recreation and culture 178.57 Education - Restaurants and hotels 311.65 Miscellaneous goods and services 145.39 Pension contribution 1,010.39 Medical insurance provided by UN organization 389.12 Out-of-area 5,192.52 IV. INDEX CALCULATION Calculation of price ratios, cost-of-living comparison index and post adjustment index. Price ratios 18. In comparing average prices for individual items in Honiara and New York, every effort was made to ensure comparability of items between the two cities. Before comparing average prices, those for Honair were converted to U.S. dollar equivalents at the exchange rate of 7.89 (SBD) Solomon Island Dollars to the U.S. dollar. Housing 19. The housing costs index was calculated on the basis of data provided by the staff for commercially-rented dwellings identified by type, i.e., house or apartment, which were further classified by number of bedrooms for both cities. 20. Included in the housing costs comparison were the average monthly gross rent, and where applicable, apportioned charges, pro-rated cost for key-money, amortized cost for repairs and repainting, average monthly costs for electricity, gas, water, heating and garbage collection and the amortized cost of a refrigerator, stove and other facilities, as well as the average monthly cost of a full-time maid. Page 4 of 7
21. The average housing costs by number of bedrooms for the commercially-rented houses and apartments in Honiara were compared with similar average costs for commercial housing in New York to obtain cost ratios. The housing costs index was calculated using standardized weights for field duty stations and then used for the major group "Housing costs". Details of the calculation are given below. Type of dwelling Number of bedrooms Rent Table 3. Housing costs Honiara, April 2011 (In U.S. Dollars) Utilities Facilities Other Domestic Service Security Average housing cost House 3 1,730.04 139.42 30.23 20.83 103.93-2,024.45 House 4 2,788.34 416.14 40.14 52.80 103.93-3,401.35 Apartment 0 1,254.75 10.56 - - 103.93-1,369.24 Apartment 2 2,534.85 139.42-35.21 103.93-2,813.41 Apartment 3 1,647.66 55.34 2.68 5.86 103.93-1,815.47 Table 4. Housing costs index Honiara, April 2011/New York, June 2005 (In U.S. Dollars) Type of dwelling Number of Number of New York Index Honiara total bedrooms Renters total Honiara/New York House 3 2 3,685.75 2,024.45 54.93 House 4 1 4,548.47 3,401.35 74.78 Apartment 0 1 2,214.20 1,369.24 61.84 Apartment 2 1 3,349.32 2,813.41 84.00 Apartment 3 1 3,607.01 1,815.47 50.33 Total 6 63.47 Out-of-area expenditures 22. The index for out-of-area expenditures, including dollar-driven, was based on the application of a special index recommended for use by Advisory Board on Post Adjustment Questions. Medical insurance 23. The index for medical insurance was a comparison of the average premium paid by the staff in Solomon Islands with that paid by those at the same level in New York. Page 5 of 7
V. SURVEY RESULTS 24. A summary of the relationship between the cost-of-living in Honiara in April 2011 and that in New York in June 2005 is shown below. Details of indices and weights are shown in the annex. Table 5. Summary results of comparison of living costs in Honiara in April 2011 and in New York in June 2005 (Exchange rate: SBD 7.89 = US $1.00) Expenditure category US $ weight % Weight Index Total 10,385.04 100.00 92.72 Total Excluding housing 8,308.64 80.01 100.03 Total in-area 3,793.01 36.52 82.27 Total in-area excluding housing 1,716.61 16.53 105.01 Food and non-alcoholic beverages 499.83 4.81 139.15 Alcoholic beverages and tobacco 77.52 0.75 140.77 Clothing and footwear 85.48 0.82 - Housing, water, electricity, gas and fuels 2,076.40 19.99 63.47 Rental for housing 1,782.61 17.17 Other housing costs 22.59 0.22 Utilities 150.05 1.44 Facilities 17.21 0.17 Domestic Service 103.93 1.00 Furniture, household equipment and routine 55.99 0.54 130.32 maintenance of the house Health 73.94 0.71 54.80 Transport 182.48 1.76 87.64 Communication 105.76 1.02 267.80 Recreation and culture 178.57 1.72 86.05 Education - - - Restaurants and hotels 311.65 3.00 71.01 Miscellaneous goods and services 145.39 1.40 81.96 Pension contribution 1,010.39 9.73 100.00 Medical Insurance 389.12 3.75 46.25 Out of Area 5,192.52 50.00 102.41 PAI 149.03 Page 6 of 7
25. The results of the comparison showed that the cost-of-living index for Honiara in April 2011 was 92.7 on the base New York, June 2005 = 100 at the exchange rate of SBD 7.89 to the U.S. dollar. When that index was rebased to the base, New York January 1996 = 100, it resulted in a post adjustment index of 149.0. Updating 26. Updating the latter index (149.0) to August 2011 for implementation in December 2011, based on the movement in the local prices between April 2011 and August 2011 and using the adapted common expenditure weights and the change in the out-of-area index, resulted in an index of 157.4 at the latest exchange rate of SBD 7.29 per US dollar. Implementation 27. Based on the survey results with implementation of the gap closure measures, the post adjustment classification changed from multiplier 67.2 to multiplier 65.3 effective 1 December 2011. Details of the application of these measures can be found in the consolidated post adjustment classification ICSC/CIRC/PAC/444 for December 2011. Page 7 of 7